At first I thought this was probably the case of a foreign (ie: Asian) licensee who was unaware of the negative stereotype. But no, the candies are made by Frankford, headquartered right here in the good old USA (Philadelphia, to be precise).http://www.frankfordcandy.com/...s/disney

There's really no valid excuse for this. I do note that the Princess Dig 'n Dips are not listed on their website, although Disney Fairies, Phineas and Ferb, and Cars branded Dig 'n Dips are. (There's even the P&F Valentine DnDs still listed.)

These are a low end licensee, for what it's worth. I see these candies all the time in our local 99 cent store.

Part of me is thinking "wow, this is incredibly insensitive" and part of me wonders why we let this stupid stuff get to us. Then again I would rather eat the watermelon flavor than the vanilla no matter which princess were on the package.

Given I'm not from the US when I looked at the picture, I thought the problem was just the white Princess on the vanilla flavor.. The watermelon issue didn't even occur to me until I started reason the comments and asked my fiancÚ who vaguely filled me in.. I still don't see what's that wrong with it? As in I don't understand why this watermelon stereotype exist or why its a negative thing? Perhaps I'm hugely ignorant but it just doesn't seem like a big deal?

There is a very old negative stereotype connecting African Americans to watermelons, going back over a century in the United States. In recent years it has fallen off the pop culture radar, but for anyone in middle age or beyond, there's no question that it is, at the very least, insensitive.

With Barack Obama in the White House, some of the old, offensive associations have been brought back-- making it especially troubling that no one was aware of the effect this candy packaging could cause.

What I'd like to know, is who the heck at Disney is responsible for monitoring the licensees? And why did they not see the obvious negative stereotype associated with Tiana and the watermelon flavor?

Plus, this might have been a deliberate act on the part of the candy manufacturer. We have no way of knowing, but given the divisive attitude towards African-Americans in certain segments of our nation, it wouldn't surprise me.

But Disney? They should have known better. The studio that still refuses to release 'Song of the South' because of negative stereotypes. They should have known better.

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